The ECB has been under enormous pressure to boost its purchases of Eurozone bonds as a way to push yields down, after many investors abandoned the debt market in recent months amid fears of a wave of sovereign defaults.

In debt trading, the market yield on two-year French bonds slid to 1.13%, down from 1.29% on Wednesday and a recent high of 1.90% a week ago.

Spanish two-year bond yields tumbled to 4.78% from 5.37% on Wednesday and 6.09% a week ago.

The euro currency continued to edge up, rising 0.2% to $1.347. The euro hit an eight-week low of $1.324 last week.

European stock markets ended modestly lower after Wednesday’s big gains. The German market fell 0.9% after surging 5% on Wednesday. The French market eased 0.8%, Italian stocks slipped 0.2% and the Spanish market was off 0.3%.

Wall Street was largely flat at about 11:30 a.m. PST. The Dow Jones industrial average was off 13 points to 12,031 after rocketing 490 points, or 4.2% in Wednesday’s global rally.